2000 supplemental oxygen therapy
Supplemental or "extra" oxygen by inhalation.
Widely used therapy.
For people admitted to hospitals.
For patients with chronic lung & heart diseases.
Importance now universally recognized.
Oxygen makes up 21% of atmosphere.
Not discovered as a separate gas until late 18th century.
Oxygen's life-supporting role understood early.
It took about 150 years before used in a proper way.
Impurities in oxygen.
Use on an intermittent basis.
Lack of physiologic measurement .
Early 20th century: pioneering work of Haldane, Stadie, Barcroft.
Oxygen therapy placed on a rational scientific basis.
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